Why are people afraid of Pegasus?

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In July last year, 50,000 phone numbers from around the world were leaked. The numbers belonged to people who had been targeted for possible hacking.

At least 10 different countries were identified from which users were hacked: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Hungary, Mexico, India, Rwanda and others.

The problem is that these phone numbers did not belong to potential terrorists or criminals. They belonged to lawyers, journalists, and investigators who hold governments accountable, as well as hungary whatsapp data leaders, religious leaders, government officials, and other influential users. Presidents and prime ministers were not excluded from the hacking list. The database also included the phone number of Emmanuel Macron, the president of France.

According to some studies, Mexico was subjected to the greatest surveillance . About 15 thousand phone numbers registered in this country were on the list and they were the ones who became victims of spying activities.

In fact, Pegasus is so popular because it can hack iPads and iPhones, although Apple products are advertised as the most secure for user privacy.

Pegasus was first discovered in 2016 when a phone belonging to human rights activist Ahmed Mansour in the United Arab Emirates was forensically examined by Citizen Lab, a research lab that conducts network research.

Mansour's phone was hacked after he clicked on a malicious link that was sent to him. Mansour was later jailed by the same authorities and remains in custody to this day.

Pegasus Aftermath
Not every smartphone user might have to worry too much about Pegasus attacks, as these are not mass attacks but rather targeted at a limited number of influential people.

In turn, the software developer NSO Group stated that they have nothing to do with the phone numbers that were hacked and will definitely conduct an investigation on their part. The countries of Hungary, India, Morocco and Rwanda deny using Pegasus to hack devices and collect data.